e," added he: "I am a monster; and so much the more
criminal as I am at this moment placed beyond the reach of the law. I
must for ever be torn by my own remorse and loaded with your
reproaches. I thought myself injured, and I hastened to revenge
myself, without taking time to reflect. I saw a crime where there was
none, and let fall the stroke upon innocence without thinking it would
rebound upon myself."

"You see, sire," continued Aladin, "what cause this Vizier had to
repent his believing these children guilty upon a deceitful
appearance, and his having hurried on a severe punishment without
reflecting on whom it was to fall. He forgot that a regard to futurity
ought to regulate the present."

The unfortunate minister, disgusted with glory and opulence, renounced
the search for his diamonds, abandoned the vessel and its lading, and
supporting the tottering steps of a weeping mother, they both walked
along the shore of the sea mournfully demanding of it the treasures
which the Vizier had cruelly committed to the inconstancy of its
waves.

"Your Majesty," continued Aladin, "will pardon me, if, for a short
time, I make you lose sight of this disconsolate pair, while I fix
your attention on their unhappy children."

The billows, to whose caprice they had been abandoned, were so
agitated that, although they were frequently thrown against one
another, they were immediately separated again. One of them, after
having struggled for two days against the billows, and after having
escaped the danger of being dashed to pieces on the rocks against
which he was continually driven, found himself, all at once, ashore on
the coast of a neighbouring kingdom. The chains which fixed him to the
plank were much worn by the sea, and notwithstanding his fatigue and
hunger, he had still strength enough to disengage himself from them,
and reach the land. He there found an officer who was going to refresh
his horse at the stream of a neighbouring fountain. This man, affected
with the sight of the unfortunate child, gave him part of his clothes,
set him behind him, and carried him to his own house. There
nourishing food and repose completely recovered the shipwrecked youth.

After decently dressing him, his benefactor presented him to the King,
already informed of the event.

The happy physiognomy of the young man made an impression on the King,
and his answers soon completed the very favourable opinion he had of
him. He became a distin